Rate My Professor Behnaam Aazhang

Behnaam Aazhang is the J.S. Abercrombie Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering within Engineering at Rice University and Director of the Rice Neuroengineering Initiative. He received his B.S. with highest honors, M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1981, 1983, and 1986, respectively. From 1981 to 1985, he was a Research Assistant in the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois. In August 1985, he joined the Rice University faculty, advancing to his current endowed professorship. From 2006 to 2014, he held an Academy of Finland Distinguished Visiting Professorship at the University of Oulu, Finland. He also directs the Center for Neuroengineering, a multi-university research center in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Aazhang's research specializations include signal and data processing, information theory, dynamical systems, and their applications to neuroengineering, with focus areas on neuronal circuits connectivity and learning effects, real-time closed-loop stimulation for disorders including epilepsy, Parkinson’s, depression, obesity, and mild traumatic brain injury, patient-specific multisite wireless cardiac monitoring and pacing, and algorithms to detect and prevent security breaches in cloud systems. A Fellow of IEEE since 1999 and AAAS since 2012, he is a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communication Society. Major awards include the 2022 Rice Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor Award, 2019 SIGMOBILE Test of Time Award, 2017 Honorary Doctorate from the University of Oulu, 2013 IEEE Communication Society Award for Advances in Communication, and 2004 IEEE Communication Society Stephen O. Rice Best Paper Award for the papers 'User Cooperation Diversity—Part I: System Description' and 'Part II: Implementation Aspects and Performance Analysis' co-authored with A. Sendonaris and E. Erkip. Recognized as a Thomson-ISI Highly Cited Researcher, he has served as keynote and plenary speaker at numerous conferences, demonstrating significant influence in electrical engineering and neuroengineering fields.